has China affected ammo prices? (lead/metals)

[thorn726]

so i am curious guys- i do a lot of scrapping of metals, and here's the deal=

in the mid 90s, steel was about $40 per ton.
then late 90s/early 00s we had the asian economic crisis, which CRushed many industries.

it used to be almost all scrap went to Japan for cars, and everyone was funded through Japanese banks.

when they crashed, scrap crashed= for a few years it hovered around $11 per ton, a real bummer for me.
then China emerged, began huge public works projects, and genreally mobilized= result- the highest scrap prices ever= over the winter i was getting $75 a ton for steel and copper was hitting 99 cents a pound ! woo hoo!!!

now it's summer so the price is a little lower, but still generally high.
other metals are rocketing in price, and i have read how this is affecting world markets greatly.

so i assume ammo companies did Not give anyone a break during the time metal prices were at the bottom, but now that they have risen so so much, maybe over the last year or two, have ammo prices shot up???

i know lead is heavily traded, and has a pretty high scrap value also, as well as other metals used in ammo

 

[txgho1911]

I am considering melting coper cable down for bullet molds. I'll look like a big spender.

 

[NukemJim]

"i know lead is heavily traded, and has a pretty high scrap value also,"

Is this recent data ? If so and it appears from your post that you are in a position to know I am puzzled

I work in Nuclear Medicine in which we produce almost no radwaste but a fair amount (2-20 lbs a week ) of lead waste from shielding material used in shipping the radioactive radiopharmaceuticals to us. We used to be paid for it, then someone would pick it up for free ( we just need to get rid of the stuff takes up storage space ) Now we have trouble finding someone to take it from us and paying for removal has been discussed. We assumed the price had fallen due to increased awareness of it carcinogenic properties.

Puzzled If you could enlighten me it would be appreciated.

NukemJim

 

[mete]

China is buying 25% of the worlds supply of steel !!! And similar amounts of other materials. This has had a very large effect on price and availability of many items.

 

[Lucky]

Nukejim is the lead irradiated? I'm not smart enough to figure out if it would be or not. And the lead from X-Ray machines, irradiated or no?

 

[Cesiumsponge]

I was at the gun store today. Wolf 7.62x39mm is going for ~$130/1000 and one of the staff cited that it's going to be hitting $150+/1000 by the time winter rolls around. I never thought of asking why but he said the general price of ammo has been going up 20-30%. I remember when it was $99/1000.

If a country (like China)is increasing demand and sucking up any current production or surplus...of course they're going to likely raise prices of raw materials. Last time I was there in Hong Kong, they were jumpstarting a lot of new construction of skyscrapers, bridges, intl. airport,etc. I'm sure the country as a whole, and that area of the world is developing economically and their consuption of raw materials to support that many people reflect current market prices to some degree. There seems to be a one-upmanship rage on building the biggest skyscrapers right now in Asia.

The only exception seems to be employee discounts for new vehicles here in the US. Otherwise, I recall reading here and there how manufactuers are passing the costs onto us.

Hmm if lead stuff at hospitals are piling up, I should see if I can find some lead glass locally. That stuff is neat! (and heavy!)

 

[mondocomputerman]

Lead from x-ray machines being irradiated?
I work on x-ray equipment and the lead does not become irradiated from exposure. I am not sure about the radioactive medicine though.

 

[thorn726]

"i know lead is heavily traded, and has a pretty high scrap value also,"

OK= easy way to tell what are the big traders- newspaper metal prices.
the big ones are in there.
lead, steel, copper , tin, sometimes more.

remember by high scrap value, we're talking 50 cents per pound compared to 2 cents for steel. its not gold, but it isnt exactly cheap and for a poor guy like me it all adds up.

basically all the semi precious stuff= copper, brass, stainless, aluminum and lead have doubled in pay out at the scrap yard. steel is five to eight times what it was in 01

car batteries for example can be worth 25 cents to $1 to the right place, even with the plastic and chemicals they neem to remove.
saw a sign today, $2 Paid for old monitors=
which are recycled for the Lead.

nOW IRRADTIATED METAL
forget it. on the way into every Major scrap yard (it would suck for a little one, they all bring stuff to the big guys later on)
on the way in there are big Raditation detectors your truck must pass thru.
NaVY trying to pass off to much nuked junk, as well as stuff described above.
if the lead is not radioactive at all, perhaps it was just what i was saying= the whole market collapsed for awhile there.

YOUR best Bet= call your biggest local scrap yard and ask them the rate, and how they suggest you handle it.


check out how big these metal guys are=
http://www.simsmetal.com.au/
here's the detector system similar to what i drive thru
http://www.radcommsystems.com/truck.html

a funny story- i asked if anyone ever set them off, aside from the navy, most recent was a guy who had drank some radioactive stuff to get a special cat scan that week. his body set off the detectors.

here are some world commodities prices
http://www.metalprices.com/

 

[atomchaser]

The lead nuclear medicine shipping containers ("pigs") might have slight surface contamination. Your RSO should be able to monitor them (wipe test) and determine if they meet the criteria for free release. I'm surprised that your radiopharmacy provider wouldn't take them back and reuse them. They can be pain to get rid of if they are contaminated because they are considered to be mixed waste.

 

[Flyboy]

NukemJim, just take the lead yourself. I'd shoot mildly-irradiated ammo.




Particularly at a home invader.

 

[Dionysusigma]

Wonderful! Now, not only will your tritium sights glow, so will the target.

 

[NukemJim]

A little clarification might be helpfull.

Irradiated = has been exposed to ionizing radiation. Everything is irradiated to some degree including your body due to your body's own radioactivity. Unless it has been irradiated by a nuclear warhead going off, high energy particle accellerators, a nuclear reactor or radiation with an energy greater than 10,000,000 electron volts ( hospital X-Ray machines rarely go over 120,000 electron volts ) not much happens and the material does not give off radiation. The walls and film carrier of a X-Ray machine in a hospital never become radiactive. An X-ray machine is like a lightbulb it just gives off a higher energy of light ( it also gives off a LOT of light but no one normally ever sees it because it never leaves the machine) when the light is off or not present not much has been changed by its exposure excepting minute chenical changes to film or biological organisms.

Radioactive = material that gives off ionizing radiation ( X-rays, Gamma rays, beta particles etc... ) such as Uranium, Plutonium and my personal favorite Technetium ( the worlds first synthetic or manmade element ) Some radioactive aterial will give off radiation for hundreds of thousands or even millions of years and some give off radiation for hours, minutes or 1/1000 of a second. The time it takes for the intensity ( brightness) of the radiactive material to decrease by 1/2 is called the Half Life.

The lead I am refering to is not radioactive it is checked multiple times before being released (by us and then we are double checked by RadSafety including Cyrstal surveys and wipe tests ) I cannot reload due to living circumstances ( wish I could, could save a lot of money, sigh ). Most of the material we use , Technetium99m, has a half life of 6 hours, rules say we must hold for 60 hours or no detectable activity whichever is longer. we usually end up holding for 3 months at a minumum. Radiation is NOT an issue.

I do not know many reloaders I have offered it to a couple and they were not interested . One said that the alloys used would vary the hardness too much beats the heck out of me I know almost nothing about reloading since I cannot do it.

Some of the Radiopharmacies do take it back, some we would have to pay for shipping it back and some of the occupational health/safety people are looking at us very hard right now due to the raw lead we work with.

Guess I have to make a few phone callsand see if we can find another service

Thanks

NukemJim